Bowling and flooding in 1950 - GREAT BEND TRIBUNE

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Bowling began in the United States in the early 1800s, but informal rules were used until the late 1890s, when a bowler named Joe Thum of New York established uniform standards. In 1895, the American Bowling Conference was established in New York City with the first chairman of Thoms Curtis. You can learn more about the organization’s early history and the beginning of women’s bowling at the online Bowling Museum (

).

What the online museum failed to share is how the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) added a "white men only" clause to the Constitution. It turns out that integrating bowling is more difficult than integrating baseball, football, basketball and golf. 

According to columnist and history professor Greg Robinson (Greg Robinson), he wrote articles for the Japanese news and cultural website Nichibei.org, and it was the struggle led by NAACP and the American Federation of Trade Unions Prompted ABC to abandon this clause. After the end of World War II in 1945, all ethnic minorities were excluded. By 1946, the Japanese American Citizens League had also begun to fight. In 1947, the National Committee for Fair Bowling was established. The future U.S. Senator and Vice President Hubert Humphrey of the Mayor of Minneapolis agreed to serve as chairman. Professional golfer Betty Hicks was Appointed as vice chairman. 

Undoubtedly, due to pressure from many groups, numerous lawsuits, and competitor organizations bypassing the ABC and organizing its own leagues and tournaments, ABC is in danger of becoming irrelevant. A California member of the Boeing Alliance proposed a resolution to delete the exclusion clause in May 1950. Representatives from the South proposed a workaround to continue racial discrimination by requiring members to have contact with local associations. The proposal served as a compromise. Therefore, the exclusionary policy was cancelled before August 1, 1950. In many areas of the United States, various ethnic minorities were allowed to participate in ABC-approved activities and competitions. 

In 2005, the ABC and the International Women's Bowling Conference (founded in 1916 when the ABC added the "white men only" clause) and the Young American Bowling League and American Bowling merged to form the American Bowling Conference. 

In the "big elbow", bowling is the farthest thing in most people's minds this week, which is a safe bet. That was because of the widespread flooding in the city, 54 families had to evacuate and hide in the Great Bend City Auditorium. 

The experience is familiar, because the city was flooded the previous year. A few days of rain and the resulting saturated ground meant that there was no other rain and it could only flow through the banks of Walnut Creek and the Arkansas River and into the low-lying areas of the city. A new market segment, Edgepark, seems to be hit hardest. According to the photo on the "Big Bend Forum" that week, it includes communities north of the city park, but flooding has been plagued the entire Frey Street. 

Volunteers from all over the area came to rescue the displaced. According to the “Tribune” report: “The first batch of cribs received by the Red Cross came from the NR Sanford couple in Horsington. They took 29 cribs into them 20 minutes after midnight on August 1. This morning, Lane Art Barger, the mayor of Germany, responded to the Red Cross's appeal by collecting 150 cribs from the Boy Scout camp in Bonnie Camp and transporting them away by the National Guard in Raned. The guardian unloaded the crib. , Get breakfast. Red Cross President John Snyder pays tribute to Barger packing the crib." 

Even trying to save furniture from flooded houses. Furniture evacuated from Edgepark should be stored at the airport. Airport manager Ned Darr is in charge. " 

Darr was busy instructing the storage of furniture. He also took a Tribune reporter to see an aerial view of the flood, which appeared on the front page of the newspaper within a week. 

It is not a new topic to propose a solution to the periodic flooding of Big Bend throughout its history. This problem is bigger than the problem solved by local residents themselves. The forum editors summarized this.

"These congressmen have prevented the integration of dam construction, dredging, and embankment construction in order to keep the flood project in the pork barrels of the Capitol. These traitors are more profound than Algiers Hess and Oriental Rose. They never Standing in the flood deep in their thighs, their boots were full of rich topsoil, but their ears were tortured by the pain of the evacuees. 

"Flood prevention is a matter of national defense. On the basis of the river valley, it makes sense. From small town to small town, it is purely criminal. Scattered flood control cost the country billions of tons. Topsoil, billions of dollars in property." 

Regardless of the price paid, the Tribune says that people are games because it is much more expensive not to take any action. 

"At the big detour, we must be willing to go further than the wet walnut river bank in order to find the answer to the flood last night." 

Sadly, the construction of the Great Bend flood prevention project will take about 40 years. This week, the area received rain for several days, and the water level was high in the big ditch in the southwest of the city. All of us should be thankful for its existence. 

Flooding can cause pollution of drinking water facilities, so the Barton County Medical Association is preparing to provide typhoid vaccines for free in the city hall that week. They were assisted by Dr. Anol W. Beahm, Chairman of the St. Rose Hospital Nursing School and the Red Cross Emergency Medical Committee. 

Another problem for evacuees is whether they will miss the daily newspaper. The forum reported their report. 

“The owner of the auto parts company, Dale Simonson, had his two boats busy evacuating the residents of Edgepark last night, and he put them back into service today to ensure that the Daily Tribune (Daily Tribune) Subscribers cut off from the flood put their newspapers in the corridor. 

"The route on board is Route 27 of the Edgepark Additional Facilities delivered by John McDowell; delivered by Richard Bahr and Henry Likes, and is located above the Main River. East, routes 16 and 32 northeast of Northeast Big Bend north of 16; and part of route 18 south of the city park delivered by Vernon Kaiser."

We miss the days when the paper route is the child's first job. However, we will not miss the preferred means of transportation by boat!